3rd Annual Lunar New Year Festival

A lunar year or lunar calendar is one that is based on the cycles of the moon phases. The problem with a lunar calendar is that it drifts away from the seasons. Each year, the start and end dates of each month drift by 11 days. In order to stay correct, every lunar calendar has to deal with this drift away from the calendar year.

Let’s examine a year. A lunar month lasts 29.53 days. So after 12 lunar months, you’re about about 354 days. This is short of the 365 days that it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun. This is a problem since after about 3 years, the lunar months are out of cycle with the solar year by about a month. And this problem would just continue.

To make the lunar calendar work in China, farmers would add in a leap month every 3 years. This would mostly get the lunar month to line up with the solar year, but they still drifted apart somewhat.

The Pacific Asia Museum is hosting its 3rd Annual Lunar Year Festival this Saturday, February 2nd. There will be multicultural performances and attendees are invited to interact with the visiting artist from Jiangsu, China. These artists will demonstrate traditional art forms including paper cutting, lantern making, sugar art, cloth art, Chinese knotting, and Suzhou silk art.

By the way, it’s the year of the snake:

The Chinese legend of the White Snake is one of the most well-known traditional stories, and has been repeatedly adapted for stage and screen. While there are many versions, the basic plot follows a white snake who transforms into a woman and falls in love. A disapproving monk discovers her secret and conspires to reveal her secret and imprison her. Though he does both, the white snake, her husband and later her son triumph over the evil monk and are reunited. In most versions of this story, the snake is a positive character that demonstrates love, dedication and determination. (pacificasiamuseum.wordpress.com)